Niigata nuclear reactor postpones anti-terrorism measures to 2029

Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc. (TEPCO) announced that a nuclear power plant in Niigata prefecture will postpone the completion of anti-terrorism measures at one of its idle reactors to late 2029. The plant is Kashiwazaki-Kariwa, where TEPCO wanted to restart the No. 7 reactor by this summer. However, delays in construction works have pushed back the restoration of the reactor to August 2029, resulting in the further postponement of mandatory anti-terrorism measures required by the Nuclear Regulation Authority. These measures have been adopted after the 2011 nuclear accident in Fukushima. No. 6 reactor at the same plant will also postpone the completion of anti-terrorism measures from September 2026 to September 2031. Both reactors cleared safety screenings in 2017, and No.7 started to load nuclear fuel in April 2024.
During a press conference, Takeyuki Inagaki, TEPCO’s superintendent of the plant, justified the postponement of the measures with the difficulty of keeping a precise schedule for a project of such a large scale. To restart the reactors, TEPCO will need the final consent of local authorities, but Niigata Governor Hideyo Hanazumi has not yet declared his position on the issue.